U.S. Facing Tech Labor 'Brain Drain' Due To Immigration Law, Study Says

U.S. policy is creating a precarious situation by making green card applicants wait too long for permission to work in the U.S., says Vivek Wadhwa, lead author of a study by researchers from Harvard University, Duke University and New York University.

Titled "Intellectual Property, the Immigration Backlog, and a Reverse Brain-Drain," the study found that most Indian and Chinese foreign nationals in the U.S. have graduate degrees -- a highly desired asset in their home countries' newly thriving economies. For many, returning home might become too tempting to pass up.

"These are highly educated people," Wadhwa said. "India and China would be happy to add these people to their work forces."

The nonprofit Kauffman Institute published the the study in August.

Wadhwa, who has posts at Harvard and Duke, examined the three primary categories of employment-based green cards. Officials reserve about 120,000 of those each year for "skill-based immigrants."

The three categories encompass EB-1 visas for "priority workers," EB-2 for professionals with advanced degrees, and EB-3 for "skilled or professional workers."

More than half a million tech professionals were waiting for green cards in the U.S. at the end of fiscal year 2006, according to the research. With spouses and children, the total topped a million people.

That usually means years of waiting, with equally long or longer waits projected for future applicants if there's no change to the system.

The issue is supply and demand, says study author Guillermina Jasso, an NYU sociology professor.

"There is much more demand for employment visas than anyone has realized," Jasso said. "They're already in line for green cards that they will not get for six and seven years."

Not everyone agrees with the study's conclusions.

Norm Matloff, a University of California at Davis computer science professor who opposes expanding worker visa programs, says he doubts even long waits will spark a mass exodus of foreign talent. After spending years trying, few will abandon their place in the green card queue.

The real issue, he contends, is that employers are looking for ways to save on labor costs by hiring younger, lower-wage foreign workers.

Much of the worker visa debate has centered on H-1B temporary visas, which allow foreigners with needed skills to work in the U.S. for as long as six years. But Matloff has the same disagreement with making permanent residency easier.

"It's politically expedient to criticize H-1B visas while supporting fast-track green cards," said Matloff. "But the fast-track green card is no better than the H-1B program."

Employers use both to avoid hiring older American workers, he says. So both have the same impact on older Americans looking for work.

Wadhwa's study also looked at international patent applications filed in the U.S. by foreign workers. Foreign nationals were listed as inventors or co-inventors in 25.6% of international patent applications filed from the U.S. in 2006, up from 7.6% in 1998.

New Jersey had the greatest percentage of foreign-national contributions to its intellectual property -- 37% of its patent applications listed foreign nationals as inventors or co-inventors. California had 36%, and Massachusetts had 32%.

The U.S. government is also a big user of foreign brainpower, with non-natives listed on 41% of its patent applications.

Big companies also showed high use of foreign national inventors. More than half of international patent applications filed from the U.S. by corporations listed foreign national inventors or co-inventors.

Qualcomm (NasdaqGS: - ) led with 72%, followed by Merck (NYSE: - ) at 65%, General Electric (NYSE: - ) at 64%, Siemens (NYSE: - ) at 63% and Cisco (NasdaqGS: - ) at 60%.

General Motors' (NYSE: - ) 6% and Microsoft's (NasdaqGS: - ) mere 3% were exceptions to the rule.

That foreign nationals contribute heavily to U.S. intellectual property isn't surprising, says Keith Grzelak, who heads the IP Policy Committee for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

"The U.S. has been doing well since World War II because we've been skimming the world's gene pool," he said.